


roam the hunting grounds

by Springsteen



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Ghosts, Horror, M/M, Paranormal, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-07 23:02:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16417700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Springsteen/pseuds/Springsteen
Summary: Bye week is supposed to be relaxing. It’s supposed to be a break from teammates and drills and everything else, ideally spent on a beach somewhere tropical. Instead, Tyson is going to spend it with half of his team at a horse ranch in the middle of nowhere. It's not the weirdest thing this team has done, at least, not until the weird noises start, followed by the unshakable feeling that someone's watching.





	roam the hunting grounds

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to Abby for beta reading and cheerleading. I hope it's scary, but also (spoiler alert), everything works out fine in the end. Title from frank turner's "English Curse."

Bye week is supposed to be relaxing. It’s supposed to be a few days away from teammates and drills and everything else, time preferably spent on a beach somewhere tropical before the playoff push and the season becomes twice as intense as it was before. That’s what Tyson’s always thought, at least. Maybe some time with his family, a few days in the middle of January when he doesn’t have to spend every waking moment thinking about hockey, and about ways he can be better.

He’s looking at resorts in Cancun on the flight back from a tough loss against Minnesota, Kerf leaning out of his seat next to him to play cards across the aisle with Mikko and Gabe, when EJ stands up. “Hey, listen up,” he says. “Hope you didn’t make plans for bye week, because we’re going on a team bonding trip.”

A bunch of the older guys immediately protest, claiming family vacations and quality time with their kids and “I’m actually going on a yoga retreat with my girlfriend, but you guys are welcome to come if there are spaces available.” Colin grins, knowing full well that no one else wants to go on a couples’ yoga retreat, gross.

“Okay, whatever,” EJ continues, talking over everyone. “A friend of mine is letting me stay at his ranch for the week, and some of the guys have already agreed to come with. Who else is in?”

“It’ll be good for us to keep building on our team chemistry,” Gabe says, rearranging the cards in his hand. “And there’s a hot tub.”

“There’s a pond, too,” Nate says. “We can play shinny.”

“Yeah, okay,” JT says. He’s sitting a few rows in front of him, headphones in his ears. Tyson looks up at him and JT catches him looking. He shrugs. “Could be fun.”

Tyson closes the resort’s website on his phone, hoping he doesn’t regret this. He was already looking forward to a week of warmer weather. “Sure,” he says. “Why not?”

He can think of a million reasons why not to have come on this trip, now that they’re driving down a narrow dirt road in the middle of nowhere. There are trees on either side of the road, pressing in like a tunnel. They turned off the main road like twenty minutes ago, and Tyson is starting to think he’s never gonna see civilization again. The only good thing about this is JT sitting next to him in the van’s back seat, his leg pressed warmly against Tyson’s. 

“This is giving me the creeps,” he says. “Are you sure you know where you’re going?” he calls to EJ in the driver’s seat. The road goes on and on without crossing any others, so it’s not like he could take a wrong turn somewhere, unless they weren’t supposed to be going down this road at all.

“Hold your horses, we’re almost there” EJ says, grinning huge and toothless at him in the rearview. 

JT rests his hand on Tyson’s knee, stopping him from his anxious jiggling. “Relax,” he says. “You’ve been bouncing around for like ten minutes. You scared of horses or something?”

“No,” Tyson says. “But I am scared of getting lost in a creepy forest, miles from civilization.” He could’ve been drinking margaritas on a beach and getting a tan by the resort pool. Instead he chose to go on this rustic horse retreat in the middle of nowhere Colorado in January because his teammates bullied him into thinking it would be fun.

Barrie turns around in his seat. “I told you not to marathon all of _Stranger Things_ in a week.”

“Kerf wouldn’t stop watching it,” he argues. “I had to know what happens.” Gabe raises an eyebrow at him, silently asking if he’s happy with that decision now that they’re out here, alone, in the middle of the woods. Tyson leans back in the seat, but JT keeps his hand on his knee, a warm, steady weight. It’s comforting in a way that JT’s presence usually is, calm and steady and always there when Tyson needs him. He takes a deep breath and looks straight ahead instead of out the window at the branches whipping past the window.

A few minutes later, the trees clear away to reveal a sprawling house in the middle of a snowy field, a few barns set a ways off and fences running around the property. There’s a pond off to the side of the house, right on the edge of the woods. Mountains rise in the distance, seeming to stretch straight up out of the trees. It looks nice enough, if you don’t mind all the snow and the fact that the closest town is about a half hour drive away. 

They climb out of the van and head into the house. Tyson stops out on the porch to say hi to the old dog lying next to a rocking chair, watching all of them walk past. “Hey, buddy,” he says, scratching between the dog’s ears.

“That’s Ajax.” Tyson looks around. There’s an older guy standing in the yard, his hands in the pockets of his faded jacket. “He’s usually in the barn with the horses.”

“Oh,” Tyson says. He stands back up. “Is this your ranch?” He was pretty sure EJ said the guy who owned the place was out of town for the week at some race or something, but then, he probably needs people to look after the horses while he was away. Tyson and the guys certainly aren’t capable of doing it.

The guy shakes his head. “Name’s Jonas. I mind the horses.” 

“Nice to meet you,” Tyson says, leaning over the railing to shake his hand, but Jonas stays where he is, hands in his pockets. A sharp wind blows through the yard, making Tyson shiver. Jonas doesn’t react; his gray hair doesn’t budge in the wind. “Well, I guess I’ll see you around,” Tyson says, hoping for the exact opposite. This place is still giving him the creeps. Jonas nods slowly.

“Tyson!” Mikko comes back outside, one hand holding the door open. “What are you doing out here?”

“Talking to…” When Tyson looks back up, Jonas is gone. The dog gets up and trots towards one of the trails in the woods, probably following the old guy. Mikko gives him a weird look. 

“Close the door, it’s freezing!” Barrie yells from in the house. Tyson follows Mikko inside, looking over his shoulder one last time. He doesn’t see any sign of Jonas or the dog anywhere. He’ll have to remember to ask EJ about the ranch workers later.

The house isn’t super old but it’s so remote it doesn’t have wifi, and cell phone reception comes and goes. There’s a huge movie collection, along with satellite tv and about a million recordings of horse races. JT and Kerf are in the kitchen, unpacking all the groceries they’d brought while EJ fires up the grill on the patio. He can hear Tyson and Nate laughing somewhere upstairs. He takes a deep breath. Barrie was right - he shouldn’t have watched all of _Stranger Things_ like that, it was clearly making him paranoid. Hopefully a week around his teammates would calm him down, make everything feel back to normal.

After dinner, Nate gets a bonfire going in the backyard. Tyson brings out s’mores supplies he brought with him, to no one’s surprise, and EJ brings out a couple packs of beer. He and Kerf grab a bunch of blankets from the hall closet and bring them outside. It’s nice, if a little cold - it reminds him of summer nights back home, makes him think of summer camp, even though the only camps he went to were for hockey.

There’s a howl in the distance, lone and loud. Tyson looks out at the woods, eyes struggling to adjust to the darkness. “Are there wolves out there?”

“Yeah,” EJ says. “Werewolves. Watch out or you’ll become the first werewolf to play hockey.”

“Or maybe one of the teams will make you their new mascot,” Barrie adds, grinning. 

“Shut up,” Tyson says. Just before he turns away, he sees a pair of eyes glinting in the shadows, yellow and unblinking. “Wait a sec.” He grabs Kerf’s arm. “Do you see that?”

“See what?” Kerf asks, voice hushed. The whole group turns to look at the woods where Tyson points. The eyes aren’t there anymore, but Tyson would swear he saw them a second ago. It’s quiet except for the crackle of the fire, and then - “Awoo!” Tyson jumps, startled by breath on his neck. Gabe is crouched next to him, everybody else cracking up. 

“Josty, chill out,” EJ says. “There’s probably wolves up in the mountains. You’ll hear them, but you won’t see them. They’re pretty scared of people.”

“So there’s nothing to worry about,” Gabe says, stealing a piece of chocolate from Tyson’s stash. Tyson makes a face and tries to shove the empty wrapper up Gabe’s sleeve.

“There are ghosts all over Harvard,” Kerf says, leaning in closer to Tyson. “Or, like, people claim to see them. Apparently there’s a ghost in the library who pushes carts of World War II history books around the stacks.”

“A ghost librarian,” JT says, smirking, from Kerf’s other side. “Sounds terrifying.” 

“Nah,” Kerf waves his hand. “That’s my point, all these people think they’re seeing ghosts or hearing voices or whatever, when really it’s just kids studying too hard. They spend all day and night reading and going over notes and eventually their eyes start playing tricks on them. It’s not real.”

“Okay,” Tyson says slowly. “I’m not afraid of ghosts, because ghosts don’t exist. But I am kinda freaked out by the actual wolves that live in the woods.”

“You heard EJ,” JT says. “They stay in the mountains. It’s fine.” 

Across the fire, Tyson blows out a flaming marshmallow and pulls the blackened exterior away. “Are you guys telling ghost stories?” he asks, assembling a s’more with surgical precision even as he gets sticky melted marshmallow all over his fingers. “You’d better knock it off, you’ll scare Josty.”

“I’m not _scared_ ,” he says, hating how much he sounds like a little kid. He’s the youngest here, one of the youngest on the team. Usually he tries not to think about it but here he feels it like a constant reminder.

“Right, you’re just stressed,” Kerf says. “Like the kids who see ghosts at Harvard.”

“Sounds like you need to spend some time in the hot tub,” JT says. It did sound nice, actually. Maybe he could convince JT to join him - that sounded even nicer. 

“Maybe Willy can send you some meditation tips,” Mikko says, and everybody laughs. Conversation picks up again. Nobody talks about ghosts or werewolves but nobody talks about hockey, either. Tyson is stressed, and he’s sure everybody else is, too. He hasn’t been playing his best and he knows it. The season so far has been a struggle of ups and downs, winning four or five games in a row and then losing just as many. He’s glad for the break, for the chance to relax and refocus and not overthink every play, and he’s sure everybody else is, too. 

They don’t stay out too much later, putting out the fire and heading inside once they’re out of beer and graham crackers. Upstairs, Tyson picks a bedroom at random and flops down on the bed, not even bothering to take off his jeans. The smell of the bonfire clings to his hair and his clothes, but he really doesn’t care. It’s been a long day (hell, it’s been a long season) and he’s feeling suddenly, terribly tired.

He wakes up hours later, the rest of the house dark and quiet, to a persistent tapping noise at the window. It must be a tree branch blowing against the house, but when he gets up to look he realizes this room faces the front of the house. The window looks out over the front yard and one of the horse pastures. The closest trees are at the edge of the woods, which he can only see if he presses his face to the glass and looks to the left. The tapping starts up again, but this time it sounds like it’s coming from the floor beneath his feet. There’s no rhythm to it, just frantic bursts of sound broken up by moments of quiet just long enough that Tyson thinks it’s stopped before it starts up again.

“Get a grip, Tyson,” he mutters to himself, walking down the hall to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He’s absolutely not running away from his room, no way. Maybe the noise was just a cat in the house EJ forgot to mention. There can’t be cats, though, because Barrie is super allergic and starts sneezing as soon as he sees a cat. He’s probably just hearing the heater or something. That’s what he tells himself when he gets back in bed, in sweatpants this time, and closes his eyes.

It’s quiet for long enough that Tyson is nearly asleep when the tapping starts again. The noise is louder this time, still coming from the floor by the window. He takes a deep breath, keeps his eyes closed, and tries to go back to sleep. The sound stops. Probably just the heater cycling off, nothing to worry about. Then it starts again, only this time Tyson isn’t hearing a tapping noise. There’s a scratching noise coming from the floor, a desperate clawing that sounds like something’s trying to dig its way out - or claw its way in.

Tyson leaps out of bed, dragging the quilt with him, and scrambles out into the hall. He slams the door behind him, breathing hard. There’s no way he’s going back in there, no matter what’s actually making that noise. He thinks about sleeping on one of the couches downstairs, but he really doesn’t want to be alone right now. 

He fell asleep before everybody else came upstairs, but he remembers that the room next to his is a double that Tyson and Nate said they’d share. Across the hall is a room just like Tyson’s, and then there’s a big room at the end of the hall he’s pretty sure Gabe took. The rest of the bedrooms are on the other side of the house, but Tyson hopes he doesn’t have to go that far. He opens the door across the hall.

“Comphy?” he calls softly. The room is dark, the curtains pulled over the window so all Tyson can see is someone in bed, but he can’t tell who it is. He really hopes he didn’t accidentally wake up Mikko or Kerf.

“What,” JT mumbles sleepily, sitting up a little to look at him. “Time’s it? What’s wrong?”

Tyson closes the door quietly, feeling like an idiot. He should’ve gone to sleep on the couch. He should’ve ignored the weird heater noise and gone back to sleep, but even now in the quiet of JT’s room Tyson knows that clawing sound wasn’t the heater and it wasn’t a cat. 

“Can I sleep in here?” he asks. His eyes have adjusted to the darkness enough to see JT frown, his hair sticking up all over the place. “Toss me a pillow, I’ll sleep on the floor,” he says quickly.

“No, you’ll fuck up your back,” JT says, moving over so there’s room for Tyson. He drops the blanket from around his shoulders and crawls into bed. He can feel his heart racing, but he’s not sure if it’s from the creepy noises or from JT, warm and sleepy and close enough to touch.

“What’s wrong?” JT asks again. 

“Bad dream,” Tyson says. It’s easier than explaining what was actually going on. “I’m fine, go back to sleep.” This isn’t the first time they’ve shared a bed - all three of them watch Netflix together on the road and Tyson ends up in JT’s bed more often than Kerf’s. When they first moved into the house Tyson would stay up way too late watching stupid YouTube videos with JT, just because he wasn’t used to the house and he hates being alone. If JT noticed he was doing it on purpose, he never said anything about it. He’d just shake Tyson’s shoulder when it was time to get up for practice and go on with his day.

JT’s arm bumps against Tyson’s as he shifts around, and a minute or two later he’s fallen back asleep. Tyson is still awake, still listening for any of the clawing noises he’d heard earlier. The room is quiet except for their breathing, and after a few tense minutes Tyson starts to relax, JT’s familiar presence next to him easy to focus on. Eventually he falls asleep. 

JT is gone when Tyson wakes up the next morning, bright sunshine coming in through the window. He walks back in as Tyson is heading back to his own room, rubbing his hair with a towel. 

“EJ wants us to go meet the horses,” he says. For a second Tyson thinks he’s still asleep. The statement has all the logic of most of his dreams. JT rolls his eyes. “Yeah, pretty sure it’s not optional. Guess that’s what we get for coming to a horse ranch.”

“Meet the horses,” Tyson says slowly.

JT flicks his towel at him. “Yeah, dude, wake up.” He bunches the towel up in his hands and frowns. “You sleep okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tyson says, trying to fight the blush he can feel heating up his face. “Yesterday was weird, I don’t know.” It’s hard to remember the scraping, clawing sounds he’d heard last night now, with JT in front of him fresh out of the shower, smiling in the morning light. The memory of it honestly does feel like a bad dream. “But, uh, thanks.”

JT shrugs. “Don’t worry about it.” He steps into his room and hangs the towel on the back of the door. “Guess I’ll see you at the barn,” he says, voice heavy with sarcasm.

When Tyson gets downstairs, everyone else is already in the kitchen, sitting on stools at the counter or around the table. “Finally,” Mikko says. “EJ almost went up to get you.”

“He’s a growing Tyson and he needs sleep,” Barrie says, throwing his arm around his shoulders and pushing a mug of coffee in his hands. “Grab your jacket, buddy, we’re going outside.”

Tyson manages to snag a piece of toast to go with his coffee before he’s bundled out the door with everybody else, walking a narrow path through the snow to one of the barns. The whole place looks peaceful and sleepy in the morning. Tyson sort of gets why EJ likes to spend so much of his time at places like this.

There aren’t actually that many horses inside the barn. Apparently they rent out the stalls and a bunch of the horses are being kept somewhere else or out of town for competitions or whatever, so most of the stalls are empty. Tyson stops paying attention to EJ’s explanation about horse racing, too distracted by the eyes that seem to be staring straight into his soul. Kerf nudges him with his shoulder.

“Don’t tell EJ, but I’m pretty sure horses can see the paranormal because they don’t have souls,” he mutters. Tyson snorts, trying really hard not to laugh. “Stop laughing, I’m serious.”

“What’s so funny?” JT asks.

“Kerf thinks horses can see ‘the paranormal’,” he says, struggling to make air quotes while holding his coffee mug. The three of them hang back while the others keep walking down to where most of the horses are.

“That’s not what I said!”

“That’s literally exactly what you said,” Tyson says. Something brushes past his knees, and he looks down to see the same dog from yesterday walk through the barn, heading straight towards one of the stalls. A second ago he thought the stall was empty, but when he looked again there was a shadowy gray horse in it standing still as a statue.

“There’s a dog here?” Kerf asks, looking around. When he sees the dog he reaches down to try to pet it, but it slinks out of his reach and into the stall.

“Where?” JT asks. Tyson points, knows Kerf sees it too: a big scruffy black dog sitting next to a gray horse. It’s the color of cement, and if its eyes weren’t moving as it watched the three of them, Tyson would’ve sworn it was a statue. 

“Very funny,” JT says, stepping away from them. “You mean that one?” He points at the next stall, the horse there shifting its weight and swishing its tail and looking like it doesn’t like being next to that gray horse at all. 

“You don’t see a dog,” Tyson says slowly. “Or a horse?”

“Yeah, I see a lot of horses,” JT says, giving them a weird look. “What are you talking about? This is a dumb joke, even for you two.”

Tyson looks at Kerf. Kerf’s eyes are wide, his lips pressed together. He looks at the dog, then back at JT. “Yeah you’re right, it was pretty lame,” he says. “Come on, let’s go.” They hurry to the other end of the barn, where EJ’s talking to one of the guys who works at the ranch. Tyson notices it’s not the guy he met yesterday. Kerf catches Tyson’s eye and both of them look back.

The dog is sitting in the middle of the barn now. As soon as it sees them watching it gets up and goes out the back door, like someone outside had called it, but Tyson is pretty sure everyone who’s at the ranch is in this barn right now. 

He goes up to EJ, who’s reaching out to pet one of the horse’s noses. “Hey. How many people did you say worked here?”

“A bunch,” EJ says. “My buddy Dale owns the place, but I think only Chris and Neil are here this week. Why?”

“Just wondering,” Tyson says, drinking the rest of his lukewarm coffee. It’s freezing all of a sudden, even though the doors are closed and the barn is heated. “I ran into somebody yesterday when we got here, it must’ve been one of them.”

“Could’ve been,” EJ says. “I think Neil was here yesterday morning.” Tyson nods. The guy he met yesterday definitely said his name was Jonas, not Neil, but he was probably just another worker. Maybe EJ hasn’t met him yet. 

“Alright, boys,” Gabe says, pushing his way between them and grabbing Tyson and EJ by the shoulders. “Who’s ready to play some pond hockey?”

“After lunch, I’m hungry,” Barrie says.

“You’re always hungry, Brutes,” Nate says. They head back to the house anyway. Tyson is starving, too, since he’s hardly eaten all day, but he’s glad for any excuse to get out of the barn and away from all those eyes watching them.

Kerf corners him after lunch while he’s struggling to pull a sweater on over his hoodie. “You saw it, right?” he demands. Tyson can only see half of his face through the neck hole of his sweater, but he looks pretty freaked out.

“Yeah, I did,” he says, hoping his voice is muffled by his clothes and Kerf will leave him alone. He finally gets his arms through the sweater and pulls it down the rest of the way. Kerf is still in his room, his skates slung over his shoulder. He steps closer.

“You saw the ghost horse, too, it wasn’t just me -”

“Do _not_ say the phrase ‘ghost horse’ ever again.” He sits down on the bed to tie his shoes. “Yeah, I saw it. I saw that dog yesterday, too. It was out on the porch when we got here.” He grabs his stick and his skates, but Kerf is standing in the doorway so he can’t leave.

“What are we gonna do?”

“What do you mean, do about what?” His gloves are still shoved somewhere in his hockey bag. He goes over to the corner where he threw his bag and starts digging through it.

“About the -” Tyson points at Kerf menacingly with his gloves. “Barn on this property that may or may not be haunted,” Kerf says quickly.

“I don’t know,” Tyson says, pushing Kerf through the door with his stick. “Right now, we’re gonna play shinny and we’re not gonna worry about it.”

Somebody dragged a couple chairs from the fire pit over to the side of the pond. Gabe and Nate are on the ice already, setting up nets and racing each other around the ice. Tyson puts his skates on quickly, grabbing a handful of pucks and taking shots on the net Nate just finished setting up.

“Watch it, Josty,” he calls. Tyson sends a shot flying past him, landing on the bank by Mikko. 

“Has your aim gotten worse?” Mikko chirps. Tyson rolls his eyes and goes back to his practice shots. 

When everybody gets outside, they play 4-on-4. It’s him and JT, Nate, and Barrie against Mikko, Kerf, Gabe and EJ. About five seconds after they start Nate gets the puck and sends a shot through EJ’s legs and into the net. While they’re cellying EJ grabs the puck and passes it to Gabe, who scores easily on their empty net. It kinda falls apart from there. Brutes drops his stick and skates up behind Mikko, then shoves his hands under Mikko’s arms and waves them in his face.

“New defense tactic,” he yells. “What do you think, Landesnerd?”

Gabe’s already thrown down his gloves and grabs the back of Barrie’s sweater, pulling him away from Nate and into a ridiculous fake fight. Mikko scoops up the puck but Tyson steals it away from him and skates up the ice. He passes it to JT, who manages to deke around EJ and score.

“Yeah!” Tyson yells, crashing into JT’s open arms. JT’s cheeks are red from the cold and he’s grinning so hard there are crinkles by his eyes. He looks perfect.

“Nice pass,” he says, one arm still around Tyson’s back. 

“Nice shot,” Tyson says, tapping his stick against JT’s shins. His grin gets even wider as he looks down at the ice.

“A little help here?” Nate yells, flying past them skating backwards trying to defend against Kerf and Mikko. JT bumps shoulders with Tyson and takes off, trying to poke-check Kerf before he can take a shot. Barrie and Landy are still fake fighting, though at this point they’re really just hugging and skating in a circle. Tyson puts on a burst of speed, trying to help JT and Nate. EJ comes up quick on his left. Tyson tries to dodge away from his check but hits a rut in the ice, losing his footing and going flying into Barrie and Landy. The three of them go down in a heap. 

They’re all quiet for a second, listening for any cracks in the ice beneath them, but the ice is solid. Gabe is already on his feet by the time Tyson gets out from under Barrie’s legs. He’s looking off at the edge of the woods, frowning.

“You okay there, Landy?” Barrie asks, picking up his stick and gloves. 

“Huh? Oh, yeah.” He shakes his head, skating over to where he’d tossed his own gear. “I thought I saw something in the woods but I’m sure it’s nothing. Let’s take ten, get some Gatorade.”

“We’re not done though,” Nate says. “I want a rematch.”

They leave their sticks in a pile at the edge of the pond. As Tyson follows Kerf and Nate towards the house to get snacks, he can’t help but glance over at the woods. He doesn’t know what Landy saw or thought he saw, but he’s willing to bet it wasn’t nothing.

After their break, EJ complains until they change up the teams. The ice has gotten too chippy for any real finesse, the puck taking all kinds of weird bounces. JT still manages to strip Tyson of the puck over and over. By the fourth time, Tyson’s had enough. He throws off his gloves and skates at JT, who drops his stick just in time to catch him. Tyson came at him with too much speed, though, and they fall on the bank, landing softly in a pile of snow.

JT flips them so Tyson’s on his back, trying to pin his arms to the ground. Tyson wriggles around, trying to push JT off. He digs his knees in and doesn’t budge, but Tyson manages to get his hands free. He grabs two handfuls of snow and shoves one down the back of JT’s sweater.

“Shit,” JT gasps, sitting up and trying to shake the snow out of his shirt, his knee jabbing Tyson’s side in the process. “Oh, fuck that’s cold.”

“Yeah, bud, it’s snow.” He’s laughing too hard to notice JT grab his gloves and facewash him, his gloves wet and snowy and freezing cold. 

“Alright boys, that’s enough.” Kerf is standing over them, already out of his skates. “Time to go inside before somebody gets hurt.” JT looks down at Tyson, a grin spreading slowly across his face. Tyson knows exactly what he’s thinking. He watches as JT scoops up a handful of snow, packs it together and throws it. The snowball hits Kerf square in the chest.

JT pulls Tyson back to his skates so they can race out to the middle of the pond, too far away for Kerf to get them back.

“Great, you guys can put the nets away,” Gabe says when he notices they’re back out on the ice. “Just lay them down over by the house.”

They drag the nets to the edge of the ice and change out of their skates before hauling all their gear back to the house. He leaves his gear to dry with everybody else’s in the mudroom and goes up to take a shower. After, he goes back downstairs. EJ, Nate and Gabe are crammed on the couch watching college hockey. In the kitchen, Kerf is trying to explain the rules of some card game to Barrie and JT.

“Junior’s here, he can play now. Tyson trade,” Barrie says. “I quit.” He stands up and goes to the couch, shoving his way between Nate and Gabe. EJ groans, trying not to get shoved into the armrest. The couch was barely big enough for the three of them, and after a minute EJ moves to a lumpy recliner, throwing a pillow at Barrie before he sits down.

Gabe looks up at Tyson. “Were you the one in the shower?”

“Yeah,” he says. “Why?”

“Was Mikko up there?”

“I don’t think so,” Tyson says slowly. It hadn’t sounded like anybody was up there, unless he was taking a nap. “I can go back up and check.”

“Nah, I’ll go.” Gabe pushes himself up with a hand on Barrie’s shoulder and goes upstairs.

“So, rookies, you’re in charge of dinner tonight,” EJ says, looking at them over the back of the chair.

“We’re not even rookies anymore,” JT mutters. They’ve all been saying it all year, but no one listens. They’ll always be rookies, at least to Gabe and EJ. 

“No way, Josty can’t cook,” Nate says. Tyson glares at him. He can totally cook, most of the time. As long as the recipe is easy to follow. “I’ll do it, I don’t mind.”

Gabe comes back downstairs before Tyson can defend himself, ignoring them all and going straight down to the basement. There’s not a lot down there besides a little home gym setup and a workbench. It’s mostly storage. Gabe comes upstairs a minute later, frowning.

“Mikko’s not here.”

“Sure he is,” Barrie says. “Where would he go?”

Gabe shakes his head. “He’s not in the house.”

EJ stands up. “I’ll go check the barns.” He pulls on his coat and heads out the back door. Tyson, JT, and Kerf watch him cross the yard through the kitchen window. Nate leans over Tyson’s chair, his phone pressed to his ear.

“I think his phone’s dead,” he says. He sounds like he’s trying hard to stay calm. “It’s going straight to voicemail.” Outside, EJ walks out the far door of one barn, heading across the field to the next one. Tyson gets up from the couch and joins everybody else in the kitchen, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Hang on, is that Mikko’s gear still out by the pond?” Kerf points. 

“What the fuck,” Barrie mutters. He looks at Tyson and JT. “Did you two see him when you were cleaning up?”

Tyson shakes his head. “No,” JT says. “I thought he was inside already with you guys.”

“He wasn’t,” Gabe says. “I thought he was in the shower or something, but…” He’s biting his fingernails, something Tyson has only seen him do in March when they were two points outside the playoffs and down by one in the third. “Where would he go? Why isn’t he here?” 

No one answers. It’s been maybe an hour since they stopped playing and came back in. Wherever he went, Mikko couldn’t have gone too far. Maybe he just went for a walk on one of the trails, but after an afternoon of playing pond hockey, that doesn’t sound very likely. He definitely wouldn’t have wandered off without telling someone.

The back door creaks open and closes again with a snap. Tyson’s sure he’s not the only one who jumps. EJ stomps the snow off his boots and shakes his head. “I didn’t see him,” he says. “I can go check some of the trails.”

“You’re not going back out there alone,” Nate says. “I’m going with you.”

“We’ll go too,” Gabe says, motioning to himself and the other Tyson. “We can spread out, cover more ground. You three stay here in case he comes back.”

“You should take flashlights,” JT says. “It’s getting dark.” He’s right. The ranch is up north and the sun goes down early in the middle of winter.

“Good idea,” EJ says. “I think there’s one in the kitchen somewhere, I’ll go grab a couple more.” He goes down to the basement while Nate and Barrie go through kitchen drawers, finding a couple of flashlights in a cabinet by the door.

EJ comes back with a few more flashlights, extra batteries, and a set of walkie-talkies. “He can’t have gone that far,” he says. “We’ll each take a radio, and there’s a mic with the base station too.” They all bundle up, grabbing coats and hats and gloves. 

“We’ll meet back here in an hour,” Gabe says. EJ nods. In an hour, it’ll be totally dark. Mikko will have been gone over two hours by then, and it would be almost impossible to search the woods at night. Tyson doesn’t want to think about what else is out there in those trees. He really hopes he comes back before then.

“I’m sure he just went for a walk or something,” JT says. “You guys’ll find him in five minutes.”

“Yeah,” Nate says. He doesn’t sound too convinced. “Okay. Let’s go.”

The three of them huddle by the door, watching Gabe and Tyson head down the driveway towards the road while Nate and EJ go towards a trail into the woods. “Be right back,” JT says, stepping outside. He doesn’t even have a coat on.

“You’re not going out there, too,” Tyson yells. JT disappears around the corner of the house and for a second Tyson thinks he’s gone off to try and be a hero. He stands in the doorway until JT comes back, his arms full of firewood. 

“You afraid I’m gonna wander off, too?” he jokes. Tyson bites his lip, not admitting that was exactly what he was afraid of. “Come back inside, you’re shivering.” Tyson follows JT through the house. Kerf is sitting in the kitchen, messing with the radio. It’s mostly quiet but every once in a while a sharp burst of static cuts through. 

JT crouches down in front of the fireplace and sets a few pieces of wood in it, dumping the rest in a holder nearby. He crunches up a few pieces of newspaper and carefully arranges the whole thing. “See if there’s a lighter on the mantle or something,” he says.

Tyson feels along the mantle, finding a lighter right over JT’s head. “What are you doing?” It’s already nice and warm in the house, and the temperature isn’t supposed to drop tonight. There is a cozy comfort in having a fire burning in the fireplace, but he’s pretty sure that’s not why JT is showing off his Boy Scout fire starting skills.

“Smoke signals,” JT says. “Literally.” He lights a piece of newspaper, watching it burn until it catches the wood. “It’s not like there’s other cabins around here or anything, so now if anybody’s lost they can follow the smoke.” 

“That’s pretty smart,” Tyson says. JT smiles, looking pretty pleased. 

Kerf gasps loudly, making both of them run to the kitchen. “What happened?” Tyson asks. Kerf shushes him, staring at the radio. He’s got the volume turned way up so there’s a constant low hum coming through the speakers. At first he doesn’t get what Kerf is listening to so intently, and that’s when he hears a raspy whispering almost indistinguishable from the radio static.

“What the fuck is that,” JT says. The whispering gets louder even though none of them touched the volume. Tyson can’t make out any words, just the sound of voices talking quickly and overlapping each other. Tyson edges closer to JT. It’s not like he can protect him from a possessed radio, but he feels safer just knowing JT is there. JT curls his fingers in Tyson’s sweatshirt and gently presses his knuckles against his back.

“You don’t think this has anything to do with what happened yesterday, do you?” Kerf asks.

“What happened yesterday?” JT’s voice is sharp. He looks from Kerf to Tyson and back again. 

“The dog in the barn,” Tyson says. “It was right in front of you but you said you didn’t see it.”

“I didn’t,” JT says, confused. “You guys are serious? It wasn’t a joke?” Kerf shakes his head.

There’s a muffled sound above them. It sounds like the floorboards groaning under something - or someone’s - weight. The three of them look at each other.

“Mikko hasn’t been here this whole time, has he?” Tyson asks. He’s pretty sure Gabe would’ve seen him earlier, it’s not like there are a lot of places to hide. “Mikko?!”

There’s no answer, just the crack of the fire in the living room and the whispering static on the radio. 

“I’ll stay here with the radio,” Kerf volunteers. “In case something happens.” If he meant that statement to be reassuring, it’s really not. 

Tyson starts towards the stairs, braver than he feels. He pauses on the top landing, JT next to him. “You go that way, I’ll check over here,” JT suggests.

“No way,” Tyson says immediately. He doesn’t care if he’ll be chirped for eternity. Splitting up has never worked out well for anyone in the history of horror movies and he’s not about to put that theory to the test right now. “We’re sticking together, it won’t take that long.”

“Alright,” JT says, smiling a little. He looks like he wants to chirp him, but he doesn’t say anything when Tyson turns on every light they pass as they check the rooms. Mikko isn’t in his room or either of the other rooms in this half of the house. The bathroom is empty, the sink dripping slowly. Maybe the noise they heard from downstairs was just water moving through the pipes.

The rest of the upstairs rooms are empty, too. It should be peaceful with the evening sun spilling through the windows, but shadows stretch across the floor like fingers grabbing at them. It’s quiet until a howl echoes, distant but clear. Tyson wraps his arms around himself.

“Next year, I’m going to the Bahamas,” he says. “I don’t care what you idiots do. We can do team bonding at the beach.”

JT is standing in front of the window in Gabe’s room, looking at the sun dipping lower in the sky. “Are you sure it wasn’t a wolf?”

“That was definitely a wolf,” Tyson says. “But EJ said they don’t come close to people, and that one sounded pretty far away.” He’s trying to convince himself as much as JT. Five of his teammates - his friends - are still out there. There’s gotta be wolves in those woods. He just hopes they stay away from his friends.

“No, the dog you and Kerf saw yesterday.” JT’s still looking out the window, his hands curled into fists. “Are you sure it wasn’t a wolf?”

“I mean, it let me pet it the day we got here, so yeah,” he says. “I don’t think a wolf would’ve been chilling on the front porch. It definitely looked like a dog. Why?”

“Did it look like that?” Tyson steps next to JT to look out the window. The dog is sitting in the middle of the yard, motionless. JT’s side is warm and solid against his, but Tyson still shivers. He’s pretty sure the dog is looking right at them.

“Yeah, that’s it,” he says, clearing his throat and trying to sound less freaked out. “That’s the third time I’ve seen it now.” JT is still staring at the dog. Its eyes are weirdly bright in the twilight, and its black fur makes it impossible to miss in the snowy field.

Downstairs, a door slams. A few seconds later Kerf yells, “Mikko!” 

JT and Tyson run downstairs. Neither of them look back, but if they did they would see the strange man Tyson met that first day come to stand beside the dog. The dog snaps at his fingers and gets to its feet, growling. Two sets of glowing eyes look at the upstairs window before both of them fade into the lengthening shadows. 

Mikko’s in the kitchen with Kerf, his skates in one hand and his gloves in the other. “You guys didn’t bring my stuff inside?” he asks.

“You were gone for two hours! Where were you?” Mikko’s forehead wrinkles when he frowns. He looks like he does when journalists ask him weird questions and something gets lost in translation.

“Hey, chill” JT says, putting a hand on Tyson’s arm. “Are you okay?” Mikko nods, shaky. “Sit down, warm up.” He drags Mikko into the living room, makes him sit down on the couch and wraps a blanket around him. 

“I told everybody else,” Kerf says. “They were on their way back anyway, they should be here soon.” Static crackles over the radio. “I’ll leave this on until they get back, just in case.”

Tyson starts going through the cabinets, looking for something to make for dinner. He’s not sure what else to do. He wants to know what the hell happened to Mikko, but he doesn’t want to make him tell the story over and over. He doesn’t even want to make him relive whatever it was to tell it once. He’ll wait until Gabe and the others get back.

JT leans on Tyson’s shoulder, keeping him still so he could reach into a cabinet. “I didn’t even know we had that,” Tyson says as JT fills a mug with milk and stick it in the microwave for hot chocolate.

“T-Bear brought it,” he says.

“Of course.” JT leans over his shoulder to look at the pots on the stove. Tyson leans back against JT’s chest and JT steadies him with a hand on his side. Tyson sighs, content. Their friendship has always been pretty tactile and he hopes he’s not being too obvious. He’s pretty sure everyone knows about his crush on JT except JT, but he doesn’t know if that’s because he’s oblivious or he’s too nice to outright turn him down. 

“Spaghetti?”

“Yeah,” Tyson says. “I usually don’t fuck up pasta, figured that was a safe bet.”

“Good call,” JT says. The microwave beeps. He grabs the mug and dumps hot chocolate powder into it, stirring it around. “Let me know if you need any help.”

“Thanks,” he says. Kerf watches both of them and raises his eyebrows at Tyson once JT’s out of the room. Tyson pretends not to notice and looks for the jar of pasta sauce he knows is in the fridge. Kerf has known about Tyson’s crush from the start and has watched the whole progression of their relationship without saying anything. Kerf claims it’s because he’s not good with relationships and he doesn’t want to have to choose between two of his friends. Tyson sees his point, but it’s also kind of annoying. 

Gabe and Tyson get back first. Gabe goes straight to Mikko, but Barrie paces around the kitchen and keeps checking on the radio until Nate and EJ get back, brushing snow out of their hair. They eat dinner in the living room, the tv playing reruns of _Friends_ in the background. It should be comforting in its familiarity but the laugh track feels mockingly out of place, playing over the sound of the dying fire in the fireplace. No one really says anything until the dishes are cleaned up and EJ’s made enough hot chocolate for everybody.

“What happened?” Gabe asks gently. Mikko’s curled up on the couch now, his long legs pulled up to his chest. He picks at a loose thread on the blanket.

“I thought I saw somebody in the woods,” he says. “At first I thought it must have been one of the guys who works here, but…” He shrugs. Tyson knows Mikko is only a year older than him but he’s never thought of him as being so young. “I wanted to say hi, be polite, but he didn’t hear me so I went over there, to the woods. I didn’t think I walked that far.” 

Nate sucks in a breath. Gabe is frowning like he’s watching a play he can’t quite figure out. Tyson can’t stop thinking about the guy he met the morning they got here. He hasn’t seen him since then.

“When I looked around, I didn’t see the person anymore,” Mikko continues. “I didn’t know where I was. I turned around to go back the way I came, but the path was different. I was lost. I kept hearing noises like somebody was following me, but there was nobody, just me. It was getting dark. Then I saw this black dog.”

“Oh fuck,” Kerf says. Everyone except Tyson and JT look at him. He shakes his head and motions for Mikko to keep talking.

“So I followed it. It brought me back here.” Mikko looks up, still twisting the blanket between his fingers. “That’s it.”

“Wow,” EJ says. “Okay. Nobody’s allowed to go wandering in the woods by themselves, especially not at night. There are trail maps in the office if you really want to explore.”

Gabe grabs Mikko’s shoulder and shakes him gently. “We’re all really glad you’re okay.”

“Tys.” Both Tysons look at Kerf, who’s cracking his knuckles nervously. “Josty, we gotta tell ‘em.”

“Tell us what?” Barrie asks, looking between them.

Tyson sighs. Leave it to Kerf to make it sound like they were keeping some big secret. “We’ve seen the dog around, that’s all,” he says. “It’s not a big deal or anything.”

“It kind of is,” EJ says. “There’s no dog here. I think the old owner had one, but Dale thinks it would spook the horses.” 

“So it’s a stray,” Tyson says.

“From where?” Nate asks. “We’re half an hour from the closest town, it’s not like there are neighbors.”

“Maybe it was a really helpful wolf,” JT mutters.

“Are you sure it was a dog?” Gabe asks. Mikko nods.

“Yeah,” Tyson says. “And not just the dog, I saw a guy here that first morning.” He can feel everybody staring at him and he starts to blush. Still, he tells the whole story, about the weird guy outside, seeing the dog in the barn and again in the yard a few hours ago. He leaves out the noises he heard last night, not wanting to seem totally paranoid and superstitious. “Maybe it’s somebody else’s dog and they’ve been bringing it here while they take care of the horses?” he finishes hopefully.

Barrie has been shrinking slowly into Nate’s side this entire time. “Erik whatever-your-middle-name-is Johnson,” he says, his voice muffled by Nate’s shoulder. “Did you bring us to a haunted ranch in the middle of nowhere?”

“No!” EJ says. “Not on purpose! Wait, stop, it’s not haunted. That’s ridiculous.” The fire snaps loudly, a cluster of sparks drifting up the chimney. 

Barrie points at it. “Proof!”

“Oh come on,” JT says. “That’s nothing, that’s just what fires do.”

“You saw the dog,” Barrie says, turning to him. “What do you think?”

“That it was a dog,” JT says. “It’s not like it had three heads or anything.”

“Okay,” Gabe says. “Everybody calm down. It’s late, we should just go to sleep.”

“Ha,” Barrie says. “Like I can sleep now. Nice try, Landesnerd.” Gabe rolls his eyes and pulls him off the couch. He goes completely limp for a second, just to be difficult, before he gets to his feet. Mikko follows the two of them upstairs. JT pokes at the fire, which has mostly died down by now.

“Hey, EJ,” Kerf says. “Is there a library in town?”

“I don’t know, probably,” he says. “Why?”

“I wanna do some research.” 

EJ gives him a weird look. “Okay,” he says slowly. “We can go into town tomorrow if you want.”

“I’ll drive,” Nate offers. “I wanna get some stuff anyway.”

“Stuff,” EJ repeats.

“Yeah, EJ, stuff. From the store.” EJ raises his eyebrows but doesn’t say anything. “I’ll stay up until the fire goes out,” Nate says. “I’m not that tired.” He settles down on the couch where Barrie was sitting and digs the remote out of the cushions. EJ sits down next to him and immediately steals the remote.

“No horse racing,” Nate moans, rolling his head against the back of the couch. EJ grins. Tyson takes that as his cue to leave. 

He goes through the kitchen on his way upstairs. Kerf left the radio on the counter, static still crackling through the speakers even though both walkie-talkies were off now, piled on top of the base unit. He turns it off. He’s probably just on edge from the weird afternoon, but he can’t shake the feeling that someone’s watching him. 

When he turns around, JT is there, hands in his pockets. Tyson can’t hide the way he jumps, just a little, when he sees him. JT grins. “Did I scare you?”

“Shut up,” he mumbles, shoving him on his way past. JT follows him upstairs.

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you from the ghost-wolf-dog,” he says.

Tyson turns around, a few steps above him. “You were scared, too, don’t lie.”

“No I wasn’t,” he says quickly. Tyson raises his eyebrows. “I wasn’t,” JT repeats. He’s got one hand on the railing and the other on the wall, looking up at Tyson for once. 

“Yeah, sure,” Tyson says. JT makes a face, gearing up for an argument. They’re so close, one step between them, and all Tyson can think about is leaning down and kissing him, cutting off all his excuses before he even starts. He turns around and goes to his room instead. Kissing JT is the one thing that would make this night even weirder. They could argue about whatever creepy shit was happening here and laugh about it later, but Tyson won’t risk their friendship for a kiss - no matter how badly he wants to.

“Good night, Jimothy Timothy,” he says, smiling. He catches JT roll his eyes before he shuts the door. 

Tyson thought he would never be able to fall asleep that night, too wired from the stress of Mikko going missing and everything else that happened that day. When he gets in bed, he lies there listening for any of the tapping, scratching, clawing noises he heard last night. It’s quiet for long enough that he relaxes, too tired to wonder about who Mikko saw in the woods, about how weird it was that the dog brought Mikko back to the house and then just sat in the yard, waiting for someone to notice. The week has given Tyson plenty to think about already, but instead he keeps going back to JT’s arms around him on the ice. JT’s bright smile is the last thing on his mind before he falls asleep.

Tonight, he’s woken up by someone saying his name. He thinks he’s dreaming it, at first, and then he thinks it’s part of whatever terrifying bullshit is happening here. He clutches the blankets in his fists, shoulders tense. 

“Josty.”

He knows that voice. Tyson opens his eyes, sees JT standing at the door, his face shadowy. “Tys?”

“Yeah.” He lets go of his death grip on the blankets. JT closes the door and sits down on the edge of his bed. He doesn’t say anything, and Tyson is too tired to question why he’s here. He moves over, makes space for JT next to him. After a minute, he lies down.

“I thought I… This is so stupid,” JT says. He’s been lying next to Tyson for so long Tyson thought he was asleep. JT is flat on his back, the faint moonlight tracing his profile. “I kept hearing voices. Like with the radio earlier.” He looks at Tyson. “That’s crazy, right? It’s probably just somebody else talking.” He bites his lip. “But it didn’t sound like anybody we know.”

The beds aren’t huge; there isn’t a lot of space between them. Tyson wants to reach out and touch JT, maybe hold his hand, make him feel safe. He doesn’t really know how to do that when last night Tyson went to his room because he was hearing freaky noises. 

“This place is creepy,” JT says. “It’s not just me, right?”

“No, it’s creepy,” Tyson says. Slowly, he moves his hand until his pinky is just brushing JT’s arm. “Should’ve gone on a cruise.”

“Next year,” JT says, smiling. “Night, Tys.” He rolls over, away from Tyson. Tyson shuts his eyes and falls asleep with his fingers still reaching out to JT.

Tyson’s hand is moving when he wakes up. It takes him several seconds to realize why. He must have moved at some point while he was asleep, and now his hand is pressed to JT’s chest, rising and falling as he breathes. His chin is smushed against JT’s shoulder. When he tries, slowly, to back away, he feels JT’s arm tighten around his waist to keep him in place. This close, he can see individual eyelashes fanned out against his cheeks. His jaw is dark with stubble and Tyson wants to tell him not to shave because he likes his beard, but he has no idea how to say that and not make it weird.

“Stop staring at me,” JT mumbles. Tyson jolts, actually rolling away from him. JT doesn’t move, just leaves his arm stretched out between them. “Go back to sleep.”

He’s wide awake; there’s no way he could go back to sleep now. He gets up and showers, and he’s sleepily measuring coffee grounds when EJ, Kerf, and Gabe come back inside from a morning run.

“Oh nice, coffee,” Gabe says. “Thanks, Josty.” Tyson definitely lost count a few scoops ago, but he dumps in some more grounds for good measure and turns it on. Hopefully it doesn’t turn out completely terrible and if it does, Landy drinks his coffee with a ton of almond milk in it anyway.

“So you’re coming with me to the library, right?” Kerf asks. Tyson looks around, thinking he might be talking to EJ, but Kerf is waiting for him to respond.

“Why me?” he asks. The last thing he wants to do is spend part of his bye week surrounded by dusty old books, doing research.

“You started this whole thing,” Kerf says. Tyson’s about to argue, but Kerf keeps talking. “And I know you wanna know what’s going on here as much as I do.”

“Yeah, fine,” he says. “Only if you shower first though, you stink.”

Kerf glares at him the entire time he picks up the half-full coffee pot and pours himself a mug, the coffee machine dripping all over the counter. 

“Nice going, Kerf,” Nate says, pushing him out of the way to get to the fridge. 

“Josty did it,” Kerf says as he leaves.

By the time Kerf is done with his shower, Nate’s made enough breakfast for everybody. Tyson has to keep fighting the other Tyson, who keeps trying to steal his scrambled eggs. There are a couple close calls when Barrie leans too far too quickly, almost knocking over his or Tyson’s stool. It’s the middle of the morning when they finally leave. EJ’s driving, Nate riding shotgun, Kerf and Tyson squashed in the ranch’s truck’s backseat.

There’s not much in town, just a scattering of houses, a bar, an elementary school and a Wal-Mart. EJ drops them off at the “library,” which is also the town’s historical center, post office, and coffee shop. Kerf walks up to the counter and asks the lady sitting there about newspaper archives or something else like that, so Tyson checks out the book selection. Most of the non-fiction books are about agriculture or quilting. It looks like the closest thing they’re going to get to ghost research material is a few worn Stephen King books and a cracked copy of _Harry Potter_ , but there are also a couple old desktop computers at a table under a window.

He checks his email, then his Facebook, so he’s gotten nothing done when Kerf sits down next to him with what’s gotta be twenty years’ worth of local newspapers. “Linda says there’s an online archive, too,” he says. “But it’s missing a lot, I guess some of the oldest stuff is too delicate or too worn out to scan, and a lot of issues are just gone.”

“Why are you even looking at this stuff?” Tyson asks, flipping through the newspapers. The top one is from three years ago. The front page article is about the county high school football team.

“Well, if the ranch is haunted, it’s probably by the ghost of someone who lived in the area.”

Tyson frowns. “How do you know that? What if it’s just, like, a random evil spirit, or whatever? We don’t even know if it’s a ghost or, like, a… I don’t know.”

“Fine,” Kerf says. He pushes the stack of newspapers at him. “You look through these for anything about the ranch. I’ll research paranormal and demonic activity, focusing on Colorado.”

“Why do I get the boring part?” He can already tell there’s nothing in the first one, with the football article. It’s three pieces of paper folded in half and stapled down the middle. 

“Because I went to Harvard,” Kerf says. “And I still know my JSTOR login.” 

“You went to Harvard for hockey,” Tyson grumbles, but he settles in and pulls the stack of papers closer. 

After about an hour, Linda brings over a plate of cookies and a coffee for each of them. Another hour after that, Tyson has found exactly one mention of the ranch: Dale Montgomery purchased it and the surrounding land in March of 2008 with the intention of renting stalls, breeding and training horses, and renting the house as a vacation home. Dale’s name is mentioned a few other times, too, mostly when horses win big races or are sold for the price of a nice car.

“Okay.” Kerf taps a pen against a notebook, the first few pages filled with notes. “So we’ve got animal apparitions, unexplained noises and voices, potential corporeal manifestation. Not a whole lot to go on, really, but it still sounds like a ghost. Rather than a poltergeist or a ghoul or a pack of werewolves.”

“Wow, too bad I just found this newspaper from the local werewolves.” He pushes the stack aside. He got through maybe half of them, and hasn’t found anything helpful.

“I’ll ask Linda if I can look at some of the older archives,” Kerf says. “You can check out the scanned ones online.”

Kerf gets up. Tyson reads through scans from the 1930s until the words start to blur together. He’s not sure how long he sleeps, but he wakes up to Kerf jabbing him in the side with his pen. 

“Josty. Wake up, look at this.” Tyson shakes himself and gives his eyes a minute to focus on the paper Kerf is pushing in his face. “Listen to this.” Kerf takes the paper back and clears his throat.

“Trading post murders. Last week, locals report an unknown man stole over $250 in goods including two horses from the Cowdrey trading post. Three people were killed in the incident, one of whom was Sheriff Gibson’s son. Suspect still at large. Please beware any suspicious persons in the area.” He flips to another paper, this one yellowed and cracking at the edges. “Murderer and thief brought to justice. Sheriff caught the man guilty of killing his son and two others during the robbing of Cowdrey trading post last autumn thanks to local farmer, who saw suspect with two stolen horses. J. Fletcher was found guilty of armed robbery and three counts of murder by a jury of his peers, and was hanged this morning.”

“Jesus,” Tyson says.

“Look.” Kerf flips the first paper around. There’s a picture above the article. “This is the trading post Fletcher robbed.” Tyson leans closer to get a better look. He doesn’t recognize it at first. The trading post is a simple building in a clearing at the edge of a narrow dirt road, surrounded by trees. It’s the mountains behind it that are familiar. Tyson knows that view.

“Wait a minute, is this…”

“Yeah,” Kerf says. “That’s where the ranch is now.”

That’s creepy enough on its own, but Tyson is distracted by the second article Kerf had read. That one has a picture with it, too - a small portrait. “Who is that?” he asks. His fingertips feel numb, the sensation spreading through his limbs. He feels like he just took a bad hit and went down, head swimming.

Kerf looks at the paper, looking for a caption. “I think it’s murderer, J. Fletcher.”

Tyson was really hoping he wouldn’t say that. “That’s the guy I saw at the ranch two days ago.”

“Holy shit,” Nate says, leaning over both of them to look at the newspaper. Tyson didn’t even realize he and EJ came in, but both of them are standing behind them, looking at the mess they’ve made of the tiny library.

“No way,” Kerf says. “This article is from 1882, do you think he’s been haunting the same place since he died?”

“Wait, what?” EJ says. “You actually think the ranch is haunted?”

All three of them turn to look at him. “Mikko disappeared in the woods for two hours yesterday,” Nate says. “You didn’t think any of that was weird at all?”

EJ shrugs. “Weird, sure, but haunted? Really?”

“We’ll see,” Nate says cryptically. “You guys ready to go?” 

“I wanna make copies of these first,” Kerf says. 

Tyson gets up and stretches. He definitely shouldn’t have spent so long hunched over a computer. They pick up lunch on the way back even though Nate and EJ were supposed to be picking up more groceries at the store while he and Kerf had been reading up on local history. It’s just starting to snow as they turn down the dirt road towards the ranch. 

“So,” EJ says as he’s putting away groceries, trying to stop Barrie from stealing a box of Cap’n Crunch. “You guys really think this place is haunted?”

Tyson and Kerf are sitting at the kitchen table, picking through a bag of Chex Mix. “Yeah,” Tyson says. “I mean, it kinda seems like it.”

“Well, now we can find out,” Nate says. He takes a ouija board out of one of the bags.

“Where did you get that?” Tyson asks. It doesn’t seem like the kind of thing you can just pick up somewhere. The box is wrapped in plastic, all sharp edges and clean surfaces. Something like that, the box should come covered in dust already, with a creepy warning label.

“Wal-Mart,” Nate says. “In the board game aisle, next to Clue.”

“I’m not fucking with that shit,” Barrie says. He’s eating cereal out of the box by the handful. “That’s how you summon spirits and curse all of us.” 

“We don’t need to summon them, they’re already here,” Tyson mutters. Barrie’s face turns white and he drops cereal all over the floor.

“Isn’t this how people talk to ghosts? Maybe we can talk it down.” 

Tyson shoots EJ a skeptical look. “Well, people have convinced unhappy spirits to cross over,” Kerf says. “This might work.”

“What might work?” JT asks. He’s just come up from the basement, headphones around his neck and dark patches of sweat soaked through his shirt. Tyson licks his lips and only realizes he does it when he notices JT watching him. He looks away, at Mikko, who followed JT upstairs.

“What’s for dinner?” Mikko asks, grinning. “I’m so hungry, I could eat a-”

“Don’t say it,” EJ says, pointing at him. “Do not finish that sentence.” 

Nate high-fives Mikko as he walks through the kitchen. Gabe comes downstairs not long after, all eight of them talking and laughing and annoying EJ while he’s trying to cook. It’s nice, pretty much what Tyson expected from this trip. 

He almost forgets about the articles and the ghost and the ouija board until Kerf goes to the fridge for another beer and says “So, should we try and talk to the ghost?” Outside a sharp wind blows, making the window panes groan. 

“What?” Gabe asks.

JT frowns. “Are you joking? Have you never seen any horror movies?”

“Oh, that reminds me.” Kerf sets his beer down on the table and turns to EJ. “I need to go out to the barn. Is it locked or anything?”

“What?” Gabe asks again. “Does somebody wanna explain what’s going on here?”

“The rookies think the house is haunted,” Nate says. EJ stands up and motions for Kerf to follow him. The kitchen is icy cold when they leave, the chill lingering after the door closes. “I got a ouija board today so we can find out.”

“For the record, I still think this is a terrible idea,” Barrie says. “Everything about it is stupid and I hate it.”

Gabe is frowning, looking around the kitchen table at all of them. Tyson wonders what he’s thinking, tries to think of the situation how Gabe would. Mikko disappeared yesterday, JT came into his room because he was hearing weird voices, and Tyson couldn’t sleep because he heard creepy noises the night before. Not to mention the dog they keep seeing around, and then there’s Jonas. Tyson only saw him that first morning but he’s absolutely positive he looks just like the guy from the newspaper in 1882. Mikko thought he saw somebody yesterday, but the person completely disappeared. All of that adds up to some pretty solidly creepy evidence. He agrees with the other Tyson. This is absolutely a terrible idea.

“You really think there’s a ghost?” Gabe is looking at JT when he asks.

He shrugs. “I mean, I don’t know what else would explain what’s going on.”

“It’s just a weird place,” Nate says. “That doesn’t mean anything, maybe that is the explanation.”

There’s another cold draft, followed by a loud clatter as Kerf drops something on the counter. “Do we have any candles?” he asks.

“A little late for a romantic dinner,” JT jokes. It doesn’t make Tyson feel any calmer. Mikko digs up some little candles and Barrie lights them, along with a couple citronella candles he found by the porch.

Tyson jumps when something cold presses against his shoulder. “Take this,” Kerf says, holding a horseshoe. “It’s iron, it protects against possession.”

“What the fuck?” he asks slowly. Kerf keeps passing out horseshoes. “Are you serious?”

“Horseshoes have always been considered lucky,” EJ says, sitting back down at the table and peeling the plastic off the box.

“That’s not what I was asking,” Tyson says. 

Kerf shrugs. “Better safe than sorry. Should we turn off the lights?”

“No,” several people say. Tyson’s glad he’s not the only one who’s maybe a little bit scared.

“How’s this gonna work?” Gabe asks. “We’re not all gonna fit around the board.”

“Yeah, there’s no room for anybody else with your giant head in the way,” Barrie says. “I’ll sit this one out.” He hops up on the counter so he can watch from a safe distance.

Gabe, Nate, EJ, Tyson and JT end up with their hands on the little plastic thing that came with the board, their fingers overlapping and their shoulders bumping into each other around the table. “I’m not talking,” Tyson says quickly.

“I’ll do it,” Nate says. “Um. What do I do?”

Kerf looks at the box, like that’ll offer useful instructions on contacting ghosts. “Say hi,” he suggests. “Ask if there are any spirits here.”

“Okay,” Nate says slowly. Tyson’s hands are sweating. Their hands barely fit on this thing - he’s sure it wasn’t designed with NHL players in mind. He also can’t back out now. Tyson’s hands are barely touching the plastic, which feels weirdly cold even with five pairs of hands on it.

“Um. Hi,” Nate says. “Are there… if there are any spirits here, we’d like to talk to you.”

Slowly, their hands drift up across the board. If one of them is pushing the thing around, it’s not Tyson. It looks like it’s going to the “yes,” but it actually stops on the B then moves down to O, 2, Q and 6.

“Wow, you guys are bad at this,” Tyson says from the counter.

“Try feeling more open to it,” Kerf suggests. “Visualize a channel of communication.” EJ rolls his eyes. 

“Spirit,” Nate says. He sounds different, bolder and more confident. It’s the voice he uses when he’s yelling for the puck, slamming his stick on the ice. “Spirit, if you’re here, please talk to us.” 

Several seconds go by, and then, so slowly it almost doesn’t feel like it’s happening, the plastic thing pulls their hands across the letters H, E, L, L, O.

“Whoa,” JT breathes.

“Knock it off,” Gabe says lowly, so only the guys around the table can hear.

“I swear to God I’m not doing anything,” EJ says. 

Nate takes a deep breath. “Hello, spirit. Can you tell us your name?”

The plastic thing moves faster this time, clearly spelling out J-O-N-A-S. Tyson sucks in a breath. He’s felt better after bag skates than he does right now. When he told everybody about the guy he saw that first day, he never mentioned a name. It wasn’t in the article, either. The other stuff could’ve been the guys messing around, but not this. 

“The guy I met the day we got here was named Jonas,” he says quietly. 

Their hands move to the word “yes” and stay there. 

“Okay, this isn’t funny anymore,” Mikko says. 

“It was never very funny,” Gabe says. He looks at Nate, who looks at Kerf. Kerf’s hands are wrapped tightly around his beer can, his fingers tapping nervously. 

“Ask it what it wants,” he suggests. “Or why it’s still here with the living.”

The wind rattles the windows. It’s dark outside. The reflections of the candles shine in the glass, blocking the view outside. No one looks out anyway, to see the dog standing beneath the window, tilting its head as it looks in through the window.

“Okay,” Nate says. “Okay, Jonas, why are you here?”

The wind gets louder. Tyson’s hands are shaking but they feel like they’re glued in place. The plastic thing moves slower than ever, like it’s being pulled around the board by an invisible magnet. Nate reads the letters out loud under his breath. “R… E… V… E… N…”

“Cut it out,” EJ says.

“It’s not me, I’m not doing anything,” Nate says. 

Their hands move to G and stop centered over the E. 

“That’s enough,” Gabe says. The house is still and quiet for a minute, then lights in the kitchen flicker and go out. A bunch of the guys shout in surprise. There’s a clatter that sounds like Kerf dropped his beer can.

“Oh my god oh my god oh my god,” EJ chants. “I thought you guys were joking, what the _fuck_ is going on?”

“I think that’s pretty obvious,” Tyson says. His hands are definitely shaking now, and next to him, so are JT’s. 

“Nate, you have to end the conversation,” Kerf says. “Dismiss it.”

“Thanks for talking, spirit, bye,” Nate says in a rush, shoving their hands to the “goodbye” at the bottom of the board. He yanks his hands away and shakes them out. “Okay, that was fucked up.”

Mikko tries the light switch a few times but nothing happens. “Is the power out?”

“I really hope not,” EJ says, getting up. “I’ll go check the fuses. There’s a generator outside, just in case.” He grabs one of the flashlights, left on the counter since last night, and goes down to the basement. Tyson folds his shaking hands together and looks at the candles glowing in the window, at the faint outlines of their reflections in the glass. It looks like there’s something moving outside. He leans closer, trying to figure out what it could be, but all he sees is a blur before the lights come back on and the kitchen is reflected in the dark glass. 

“It was just a fuse,” EJ says. “So, now what?”

Tyson wouldn’t mind going home a few days early and forgetting this place exists, but he’s not gonna say that.

“I read about some cleansing rituals and ways to unbind spirits and stuff at the library earlier,” Kerf says. “We could try one of those? But I don’t think we have all the supplies.”

“I’m not wandering around the woods until we find this guy’s grave,” Barrie says. Kerf frowns at him. “You know, like in _Supernatural_. They salt and burn the bones to get rid of evil ghosts.” The candle closest to him flickers out. 

“Yeah, that’s not how this works,” Kerf says. “I’m gonna need, like, a bunch of sage. Maybe some cedar.” Three more of the candles burn out. The candles were pretty little, but it doesn’t seem like they should be burning out this fast.

“Well, we can go out in the morning,” Gabe says. “I think it’s supposed to snow tonight.” He and Kerf make plans to go into town in the morning. EJ and Mikko leave and a few seconds later the tv turns on, one of them clicking through the channels looking for something to watch. Tyson is still sitting at the kitchen table, holding his hands together.

Somebody pushes a mug in front of him, steam rising from the surface. JT sits down across from him. “According to Mikko, Brutes, and _Harry Potter_ , chocolate can actually cure anything.”

“Wow,” Tyson says, taking the mug. “You can read?”

“I watched the movies,” JT says, smiling softly. “And fuck you, I can read.” Tyson smiles, hidden behind the mug. The hot chocolate is exactly what he needed, sweet and warm, just like JT’s smile. He cares about Tyson enough to try and cheer him up, to sit here with him in the kitchen while outside the wind howls like something out of a nightmare. Under the table, JT kicks his ankle. Tyson kicks him back, leaving his foot next to JT’s. 

“Willy’s yoga retreat doesn’t sound so bad now,” JT says. Tyson bursts out laughing.

“I don’t know, it still sounds pretty terrible,” Tyson says once he’s finally stopped laughing. The wind howls again, and snowflakes drift past the window. “At least it wouldn’t be snowing.”

They sit at the table long after Tyson finishes his hot chocolate, until snores drift in from the living room where Mikko fell asleep in front of the tv. Tyson follows JT out of the kitchen, but he stops suddenly in the hallway, looking around.

“Do you hear that?” he asks.

Tyson shakes his head. All he can hear is Mikko snoring, some cooking show playing quietly on the tv, and the wind outside. But then, under all that, he hears a low, scraping rattle, so quiet he would think he’s imagining it if JT didn’t notice it first. 

“What is that?” Tyson asks. JT shakes his head and goes upstairs. Tyson follows, but it’s like he’s wearing headphones or something - he can’t get that noise out of his head. It’s so much worse than the noises he heard the first night. He doesn’t even know what exactly that rattling is, but it sounds like it’s coming from right behind him, no matter where he is.

JT stops outside his room, one hand on the doorknob. “Do you, um… Can we?”

“Yep,” Tyson says. “Yes.”

“You don’t even know what I’m asking,” JT says. 

Tyson shrugs. “Whatever you want, it’s cool,” he says. “I trust you.”

“Okay,” JT says. Tyson goes into his room, and he’s just changed into old sweatpants when JT’s back, standing in the door and looking uncertain. 

“It’s too creepy to be alone,” Tyson says. The house is quiet now, but that doesn’t mean anything, judging from the other nights they’ve spent here.

“Yeah,” JT agrees. Slowly he walks across the room and sits on the edge of Tyson’s bed. It feels different than before - it’s much more deliberate than creeping into each other’s rooms in the middle of the night, still half-asleep and freaking out. They woke up together this morning, but there’s something soft and intimate about getting in bed together, even if it is just to sleep. 

JT is still sitting there when Tyson comes back from brushing his teeth. He turns out the lights, JT’s face lit by his phone screen. 

“Are you actually gonna sleep, or...” Tyson asks as he gets in bed. 

JT finally gets under the covers. “Night, brave little Jost-er,” he says. Tyson can’t see his face but he’s sure he’s grinning. His shoulders are shaking with silent laughter.

“Wow,” Tyson says. “How long have you been waiting to use that one?” JT is still laughing. “Did you come up with that on your own? It sounds like something EJ would come up with.” He shoves his shoulder. “Jerk.” 

JT looks at him, his grin brilliant even in the dark. “Good night, Tys.”

“Sweet dreams, Jimothy Timothy.” JT turns away again, not fast enough to hide his smile. Tyson doesn’t hear any creepy noises now, no scratching or tapping or rattling, but if he did, he doesn’t think it would seem so bad with JT right next to him, already drifting to sleep.

Tyson wakes up too early the next morning. Something drips on his cheek. He wipes it away, and it happens again.

“Sorry,” JT says. Tyson opens his eyes. JT is kneeling on the bed next to him, digging through the blankets. He’s wet from the shower, his hair still dripping, drops of water hitting Tyson’s face. “I can’t find my phone.”

“That’s not my problem,” Tyson mumbles. He tries to go back to sleep when JT sticks his freezing cold hands under the sheets, brushing his arm. Tyson squirms away.

“Sorry,” he says again. Tyson grabs a pillow to throw at JT and his phone clatters to the floor. He bends down and picks it up. “I’m going for a run,” he says. “Wanna come?”

Tyson can think of a lot of other ways he would rather burn some calories in the early morning with JT, but their relationship isn't like that, no matter how badly Tyson wants it to be. There are no benefits to their friendship - not the kind involving orgasms, anyway. He opens his eyes again and looks at JT. He looks ridiculous, wearing like three different sweatshirts and an Avs hat pulled over his hair. Still, Tyson can’t say no to him.

“Fine,” he says, dragging himself out of bed. “Gimme a minute.”

Outside, it’s so cold they can see their breath cloud in front of them. The fresh snow crunches under their feet, but it’s quiet this early in the morning as they run around the pasture and towards one of the trails into the woods.

“You know where you’re going, right?” Tyson asks. He can’t help but think of Mikko, wandering into the woods and getting lost. 

“Yeah,” JT says, holding up his phone. “EJ sent me a trail map, and he said some of the trails have markers.” They haven’t run very far when they pass a tree with a bright blue ribbon tied around it. Tyson can see another one farther along the path. 

He kind of expects to meet some of the others out here on one of the trails, but it’s just the two of them, the morning sunlight filtering through the trees. Tyson thinks about saying something to JT, about how this creepy house is a little less creepy when he’s around, or about how Tyson’s day is a little brighter whenever he’s with JT, laughing about something dumb or getting a point on the ice or whatever. It’s awkward to have a serious conversation while running, though, even if they are professional athletes, so he doesn’t say anything.

Gabe and Kerf are already gone when they get back, on their shopping trip into town. Tyson takes a shower, trying to warm up. He looks at the mirror, still covered in steam, and frowns. For a second it looked like there was another face reflected in the steam, but when he wipes off the condensation it’s just his own face, wide-eyed and pale, looking back at him. Tyson shivers even though the bathroom is still steamy from the shower. 

He hurries back to his room, still wrapping a towel around his hips, and runs right into JT. “Oh hey,” Tyson says, steadying himself with a hand on JT’s shoulder. “Sorry, wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“Gotta keep your head up, Jost,” he says. His face is still flushed from their run. “And put some clothes on. Kerf is looking for you.”

Tyson does a little shimmy, grinning at JT. He rolls his eyes at Tyson and gently pushes him into his room. He can still feel JT’s hands on his chest, even after he pulls on clothes and goes downstairs to see what Kerf wants. He sees Gabe first.

“Hey Tyson,” he says. “You ready to get rid of our ghost problem?”

The spell, or whatever it is, is pretty anticlimactic. Mikko suggests they do it outside, since weird stuff has been happening all over, so they all go out and stand in the snow about halfway between the house and the first barn. Kerf lights a stick of incense, smoke curling up into the sky.

“Now what?” Tyson asks.

“I think you should ask it to leave,” Nate says. “You’re the first one who saw it.”

“Me?” Tyson asks. He has no idea how to do this. He saw the new _Ghostbusters_ movie when it came out, but he doubts that counts as helpful experience. 

“Just talk to it,” Kerf says. He’s still holding the incense. The smell of it makes Tyson’s nose itch.

“Okay,” he says. He licks his lips and looks around at the house, the fields, the woods in the distance. He’s afraid he’ll say the wrong thing, somehow, but he also has the feeling there is no wrong thing to say. It’s not like he’s gonna accidentally bust out some Latin and summon a demon or something.

“Jonas,” he says, voice cracking. He clears his throat and starts over. “Jonas Fletcher, leave us alone. Um. Please.”

Nothing happens. He couldn’t possibly feel more stupid, standing with half his team in a frozen field politely asking a ghost to stay away from them. What was he expecting, thunder and lightning and explosions? He sneezes, probably thanks to the stupid incense, and when he opens his eyes again, he sees something moving by the woods. 

Jonas is standing in the shadow of the trees, hands in his pockets, watching them. He nods once, slowly, and fades away. There’s nothing there but trees, their bare branches swaying in the wind.

“Holy fuck I think it worked,” Tyson says. He sneezes again, and again. 

“Great,” EJ says. “Let’s go back inside, it’s cold. And put that out, I think Josty’s allergic.” 

“So that’s it?” JT asks, bumping shoulders with him as they follow everybody else to the house. “All we needed to stop an angry ghost was Canadian manners?”

“I don’t know,” Tyson says. “I saw him by the trees after I asked him to leave and then he was just… gone. Like there was never anybody there in the first place.”

“Okay,” JT says slowly. “Well, nice job saving bye week.” Tyson blushes, grinning. He feels kinda like a hero, even if he barely did anything. They don’t even know for sure that the ghost is gone. It’s hard to imagine anything scary happening right now, though, with the sun shining brightly and JT smiling even brighter. Across the yard, Nate and Brutes are trying to hit Gabe with snowballs as Mikko supplies them. It’s not a beach in Mexico, but Tyson figures this is pretty okay.

Later, he’s finally spending time in the hot tub. Brutes has been hogging it for most of the week, but he found a copy of _Grease_ in the DVD collection earlier so Tyson is alone. The quiet is nice, and it’s easy for Tyson to relax until he’s almost asleep.

“Mind if I join?” Tyson opens his eyes. JT is standing by the edge of the hot tub, holding a couple of towels.

“Come on in,” Tyson says. JT gets in the water and sits across from him, leaning back and closing his eyes, a mirror of Tyson’s pose a minute ago. JT bumps his feet against Tyson’s legs as he stretches out - they’re both tall guys and the hot tub isn’t huge. It was probably accidental. It shouldn’t mean anything, but Tyson feels it like a shock against his skin. Tyson doesn’t know if it’s just the hot water or if it’s everything that happened this week finally catching up to him, but he feels invincible. He spent the week living with and then getting rid of a ghost - he basically faced down death, and he’s still here. They’re all still here, including JT, right in front of him but just out of reach. 

JT’s eyes are open now and he’s watching him with an intensity Tyson can’t believe he’s never noticed before. Slowly, deliberately, he licks his lips.

Tyson doesn’t realize he’s moving until he’s standing in front of JT, his hands hovering on the water’s surface. “Can I -”

“Yeah,” JT says, already pulling him closer.

Kissing JT is electrifying. It’s shooting the puck and knowing it’s gonna hit the back of the net before the horn sounds. It’s his fingers in JT’s hair, JT’s lips on his chapped but firm. He hasn’t shaved this week and his beard scratches Tyson’s face. Tyson knows he’s gonna have beard burn later but he absolutely does not care. He’s so happy he feels like he could just float away, but JT’s hands are spread across his back, holding him close, and anyway, there’s nowhere else Tyson would rather be. He’s pretty sure JT knows that, but he kisses him again, just to make sure.

* * *

Gabe is almost done with his book. He doesn’t care how much Tyson chirps him - reading mysteries in the original Swedish is always so much better than the English translations - when he sees a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. That’s been happening to him a lot this week, though it hasn’t happened at all since since Josty asked the ghost to leave earlier. He can’t believe EJ brought them to a haunted horse ranch for bye week, but at the same time, he’s not really that surprised. It’s EJ. He looks out the window.

“Guys,” he yells. “The rookies are hooking up in the hot tub.”

“Hey!” Kerf shouts, sticking his head out of his room. “Don’t include me in that!” 

Tyson and EJ race into Gabe’s room to see for themselves.

“Classic Tyson move,” Tyson says. “I can’t believe he beat me to it.”

“Wow, you were gonna plant one on Comph, too?” EJ asks. Tyson starts arguing immediately as EJ shoves open the window, letting in a freezing gust of air. “Hey!” he yells. “That’s a communal hot tub!” 

The rookies freeze. Josty looks up at them, a dazed grin on his face. Compher doesn’t move. The back of his neck and his ears are as red as his hair. 

Tyson pushes EJ aside so he can stick his head out the window, too. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

Josty shrugs and pulls Comph in for another kiss. Gabe kicks EJ and Tyson out of his room so he can close the window and finish his book in peace. Gabe glances out the window again. Tyson has his arms around JT’s neck, his head pillowed on JT’s chest. JT leans down and softly kisses Tyson’s temple, and even from up here and with his face half-hidden in JT’s chest, Gabe can see his smile.

He sits back down on his bed and flips through his book to where he left off.

* * *

Tyson doesn’t start packing until the last possible minute, when everyone else is already on their way out the door. A bunch of JT’s stuff is still in his room, so he shoves all of it into his suitcase, figuring they can sort it out back home. 

“How are you not packed yet?” JT asks from the hallway. “We’ve only been here for a week.”

“Well, somebody left all their stuff in my room,” Tyson says, throwing one of JT’s shirts at him. It hits Tyson’s shoulder a second later and falls to the floor. JT wraps his arms around Tyson’s waist and presses his nose against the back of his neck.

“If you’re trying to get me to hurry up, you’re doing a terrible job,” Tyson says, leaning back into JT’s arms. 

“I can’t believe you’ve had a crush on me this whole time.” Tyson feels JT’s lips move against his neck.

“Really?” Tyson says. He isn’t even trying to pack anymore. He can see a sock half under the bed, but there’s no way he’s moving to get it right now. “I thought I was pretty obvious.”

“Should’ve tried harder,” JT says. Tyson laughs. If he’d been any more obvious, he probably would’ve ended up kissing JT on the ice months ago.

“Josty! Comphy! We’re leaving without you!” Nate yells from downstairs. 

Tyson grabs all the clothes he can see and shoves them in his suitcase before slamming it shut. JT grabs his hockey bag from the corner and they both go downstairs. EJ hits the horn as they get outside.

“We’re right here, calm down,” JT says, helping Tyson throw his stuff in the back of the van. Tyson closes the doors and is about to follow JT around to the passenger side, but he stops for a second to look back at the house. The black dog is sitting on the front porch again, its tail slowly swishing back and forth. Feeling like an idiot, Tyson waves at the dog before he gets in the van. Some parts of this week have been awful, and some have been really great, but he’s really ready to go home.

“Hey,” Barrie says, leaning over the seat. “You don’t think ghosts can, like, follow you somewhere, right?”

“Josty got rid of the ghost,” Gabe says. 

“Yeah,” Barrie says slowly. “But what if it has friends?” Tyson hasn’t been wondering the same thing, exactly, but he’s still a little on edge, waiting for something to happen. He doesn’t believe Jonas is gone for good, but his past is tied to this place. Tyson doesn’t think he’ll leave. He’s not too worried about ghosts in Denver, either. JT’s arm is heavy and warm, settled across Tyson’s shoulders.

“Tys,” Nate says. “If you bring a ghost home and your apartment is haunted you can stay with me.”

“Cool,” he says. “But -”

“And I’ll make Josty come over and get rid of it,” Nate says.

“No way,” Tyson says. “Your house, you’re on your own, buddy.” 

Barrie glares at him. “You guys are the worst,” he says.

“Hey!” Nate protests. Tyson closes his eyes and leans into JT’s side, letting his teammates’ bickering fade into background noise. It’s familiar, the same chirps thrown back and forth that Tyson’s been hearing since September. Tyson loves his team, and they’re closer than ever after facing down a ghost, but Tyson kind of wishes he’d taken this time to get away instead.

“Next year, let’s go someplace warm,” JT says quietly. “Just us.”

Tyson grins. “Deal.”

**Author's Note:**

> Dale, coming home to his ranch and finding 8 iron horseshoes, 1 ouija board, and a mostly full package of incense: Jonas what have I told you about scaring the tourists
> 
> Jonas, rattling silverware as he appears in the kitchen: i had to do something those idiots were never gonna get over their sexual tension otherwise
> 
> Jonas: also it was funny
> 
>   
> thanks for reading! come say hi on [tumblr](http://segwins.tumblr.com). happy halloween!


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